It’s less than 24 hours before we enter a whole new year, and given how much of 2016 has been — going purely by news headlines — there are many who can’t wait for 2017 to begin. Among those impatient for the clock to strike 12 on January 1, 2017, are these colourful netted balloons looking at the clock, jumping around as if urging time to move faster.
Yes, it’s that sense of impatience for the new year to come is what the December 31 Google Doodle for 2016 is. “Happy New Year’s Eve! All across the world tonight, we’re sharing the eager anticipation of counting down to midnight: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…” is how the concept of the doodle has been described.

The year 2016 will last a little longer. You’ll need to wait a second!

As massive as our planet is, the Earth still “brakes” for ocean waves. Remarkably, this pale blue dot decelerates thanks to the braking action of ocean tides. In fact, our planet decelerates 2 milliseconds per day per century, according to the Naval Observatory. The final effect is that the planet’s rotation slows compared to atomic clocks.

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But since the world slows by about 2 milliseconds a day, a leap second needs to be added about every 500 days. Civil time must be adjusted so that the world’s atomic clocks do not vary from the Earth’s rotational time by more than 0.9 seconds, according to the observatory.

Said Geoff Chester: “By adding a leap second, we’re essentially stopping our atomic clocks to let the Earth catch up.”

The countdown is on! Christmas is just two days away and Google is getting into the festive spirit with a Google Doodle celebrating the tradition of caroling.

Each of the letters in the word 'Google' represent a caroler with the letter 'l' waiting patiently to strike the triangle when the conductor, the letter 'e', gives it the nod.

"‘Tis the season for song! Wintertime brings with it a number of traditions, but few as old or joyful as caroling," said Google in a blog post. "Dating back thousands of years, the original carols were songs specific to certain regions, and shared by wandering minstrels on their travels between towns."

The countdown is on! Christmas is just two days away and Google is getting into the festive spirit with a Google Doodle celebrating the tradition of caroling.

Each of the letters in the word 'Google' represent a caroler with the letter 'l' waiting patiently to strike the triangle when the conductor, the letter 'e', gives it the nod.

"‘Tis the season for song! Wintertime brings with it a number of traditions, but few as old or joyful as caroling," said Google in a blog post. "Dating back thousands of years, the original carols were songs specific to certain regions, and shared by wandering minstrels on their travels between towns."